Name: Rick Koca
Organization: STANDUP FOR KIDS
Headquarters: San Diego, CA
Founded: 1990

Bursting with energy and a passion for kids like walking, talking human A-bomb of positive change, it's hard to believe that after sixteen years of helping homeless kids, and thirty years in the Navy, Rick Koca is still on the streets every day, asking kids, "If we could do one thing for you today, what would it be?"

Originally from Nebraska, Rick retired from the Navy in Denver and moved to San Diego permanently in 1998. While he has no formal degree, he's learned a lot from various courses at various colleges-and a lot more from the street.

A CBS Broadcast of 48 Hours changed Koca's life forever. The episode focused on street kids and their lives in San Diego, California, and Rick got inspired from it immediately. Completely moved by the homeless situation there, when sent to San Diego by the Navy, Rick walked the streets every single night, identifying homeless youths and helping them obtain places to live. After volunteering with other organizations, Rick got tired of how they would turn kids away that left but then came back for help again. He began outreach for these kids in 1987, and, with the help of just one lawyer friend and a board of directors, STANDUP FOR KIDS was born in 1990.

Run by only six paid employees and hundreds of volunteers-Rick's oldest grandson volunteers right alongside him-in thirty-two cities, STANDUP was created to "take care of the kids no one else is taking care of," Rick says. The hardest part of founding the organization for him was going to sleep at night. Rick says that there are only four ways that kids survive on the street: begging for money, stealing, selling drugs, or prostituting themselves. "What adults do to children. I saw more in my first year [outreaching on the streets] than I did in thirty years in the Navy."

Married, with three kids and seven grandkids, Koca is no stranger to family life-the very aspect of living that street kids lack. "There is a case of child abuse reported every ten seconds," Rick exclaims. "We should be ashamed. On the statue of liberty, it says, `Send me your homeless!' We can't even take care of our own children." He says that race, color, background, and other factors are not what cause homelessness; it's all about where people live-their earnings and environment. "You're going to go to the school in your neighborhood. Even if it's run down with no desks or heat and bad plumbing you're going to have to go there."

Rick gives a very powerful analogy about how society views homeless youth. He says, "If an adult is out drinking and driving, and has an accident, we take them to the hospital, where they get therapy and treatment for breaking the law! If we see a child on the street, we leave him on the street." Pointing out that the situation is far from fair play, Rick maintains that children should be punished as children-not as adults. He says we have to treat children like children instead of expecting them to live at higher standards than adults. By reaching to them through sports, school activities, and music, we can help them connect. "We have to know and care about our children," Rick says.

STANDUP does just that. By offering a family-oriented environment of games, a positive social atmosphere, and outings like birthday parties, movie nights, barbecues, and more, Rick's organization helps kids develop and the number one thing that they need to get off the streets-hope. "People say these kids need pride and self-worth. They have pride and self-worth-they have no hope." Rick has been so involved with the kids he helps that he's gone to weddings, baptisms-even been the godfather for one's children.

Starting by approaching a homeless youth with the question, "If we could do one thing for you today, what would it be?" STANDUP goes from there. "If they ask for money, we ask, what would you do with it? If they say I'd buy some food, we say, here's some food! If they say, I need some shoes, we say, here are some shoes!" Rick says. From dental care to housing and job assistance to groceries to resume help to even a place to stay for the night, STANDUP helps out kids on an individual basis. Showing the kids that there is life after the streets can be tough. Rick recounts the story of Bonnie, who, at seventeen, received apartment assistance from STANDUP. After they'd delivered groceries to her, she didn't know what to do with them, and the foods were spoiled when volunteers returned the next week to bring more. "There are hundreds of things they don't learn on the streets," Rick informs, adding that a big part of the help STANDUP provides includes these survival skills. They have to get out of survival mode, and discover that life after the streets is possible.

Rick invites people everywhere to take a stand against homelessness by refusing to be abused, and by "being the message." Basing his slogan on the "don't shoot the messenger" saying, Rick stresses how important it is that child abuse be stopped-and that the message must be passed on. He says the best ways to help the problem are to refuse to allow abuse to happen to any kid, any time, anywhere, and to start "don't run away" programs in every school.

STANDUP FOR KIDS has more than thirty programs throughout the US, assisting youths ages 21 and under. They have given assistance to kids 29,419 times and continue to do so every day. With more than one and a half million homeless on the streets, homeless youths make up 27% of the homeless population.

Check out Rick and his organization, STANDUP FOR KIDS, to learn more, contribute, take action, volunteer, sign up for the newsletter, and more!